Frozen Relations
by Chikiko
Summary: RanmaCowboybebop. The Bebop Crew get involved in a strange fued between two rival sindicates when they investigate a research facility who's cargo has been targeted by one of the syndicates. Ranma and co will make his appearence in a couple of chapters


a Ranma/Cowboy Bebop Crossover

by Chikiko(Chikikothekirealm.com)

Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)

Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Cowboy Bebop is owned by someone who, unfortunately i dont know who that is, but it isnt me.

The former fishing vessel now known as the Bebop lazily orbited the gaint gas planet Jupiter. Inside the Bebop, the occupants were feeling just as lazy as the ship that carried them. The recent lack of crimal activity created a heavy feeling of ennui for the bounty hunters that resided within.

Spike Speagal sauntered down the ship's hallway, looking for something to do. As he walked into the living quarters, he spotted Ed sleeping in front of her computer, and Faye lounging on the couch reading one of her dumb paper back mangas. She usually only read her mangas when she was taking a bath or when was feeling bored. Obviously, it was the latter. Which frustrated him, because that meant they were still jobless. It had been just over two weeks now since their last job. Which meant that if they didn't hurry up and get a job soon, they'd be out of money, food, and gas. Sitting down he asked. "Where's Jet?"

Faye paused in her reading for a moment. "I don't know, on the bridge, cooking, or with his bonsai I guess. Tell me again why we're just sitting out here around Jupiter?"

"Cuz we don't have anything better to do, and just sitting around saves a lot of gas. Besides we're Jet's hopping those idiots who've been trying to rob that shipment from that research facility on Ganymede will try again. If they do, It'll be the seventh time they've tried. Kinda pathetic if you ask me."

"So what can be so special about that research facility that they keep going after them?"

"I'll be damned if I know."

"We'll let's go find out. Anything is better than being stuck here. Shoot maybe we can even hire ourselves out as bodyguards and protect their stupid shipment from those idiots."

"Well what do you know, Faye actually came up with a good idea." Said Jet laughingly as he entered the room.

"Ha ha ha." Faye responded wryly.

"Anyway dinner is ready. We're having beef and vegetables again."

"Is there actually any beef in it this time?" Asked Spike.

"Was there beef in it yesterday or the day before that? Why exactly would there be beef in it today, when we haven't gone shopping for food?" Shaking his head, he said. "One of you guys wake up Ed, while I go set a course for Ganymede. That way, by the time we're done eating we can find out what's so important about their shipment that it's been hijacked six times already."

An hour later Jet was on the bridge talking the president of the Reawake research facility. "We'd like to thank you for your generous offer Mr. Black, but your services won't be needed."

"Won't be needed?" Jet asked incredulously. "Mr. Agerson six of your ships have been attacked and hijacked, so far it's only been pure luck that you've been able to your cargo back unharmed from those. Whoever wants your cargo, they want it really bad. If you send another shipment out, there's no doubt they're going to try another hijacking."

"I'm well aware of that Mr. Black, but we're quite confident that our cargo will make it out safe and sound."

Jet frowned. "Well then do you have any ideas on who might want to steal it? Perhaps then we can track them down, so that you won't have to ever worry about them trying it again."

"No, I'm sorry Mr. Black. I wouldn't have the slightest idea. We're just a research facility. There's nothing on the shipment that any criminal I can think of would want to get their hands on. Besides the contents of our cargo is top secret, there's no way that anyone should even know what the cargo is, much less have a motive for stealing it. So I'm sorry we couldn't help you Mr. Black, but now I must get back to work."

Jet slammed his fist into the chair in anger and walked downstairs to the living quarts to meet the others. "So, we get the job?" Asked Spike, when he saw him enter the room.

"No. They seem to think that they're cargo is going to be perfectly safe."

Spike sighed as he hung his head and mumbled. "Great that mean more beefless beef and vegetables for who knows how long."

"There's no need to be so gloomy Spike. I'm sure something will show up soon enough. In fact, Big Shot is about to come on. Turn on the TV. We may just get lucky."

"Amigos!" Said Punch as Big Shot began.

"Hi to all you 300,000 bounty hunters in the solar system!" Judy continued, as bubbly as normal.

"We're sorry to report, that there are still no major bounties out."

"Oh, that's so sad Punch! That must be pretty bad news for all you Big Shot bounty hunters out there."

"Well there is some good news Judy."

"Oh? What's that Punch?"

"Well Ariana Weltson was found missing from her cell today. She was being held at Magellan's correctional facility for women on Venus. The Venusian government has put out a one hundred thousand woolong bounty on her, making her today's top bounty!"

"One hundred thousand? Well that isn't very much for the top bounty."

"It sure isn't, but it's the largest we've had since the most recent Reawake research facility hijack two weeks ago."

"Wasn't that one worth seven million?"

"It sure was Judy! But hey, if they strike again, who knows? It might just jump up to ten million woolongs!"

"Oh well, it sure would be nice if they struck again. But hey, don't lose hope! Stay tuned for more bounties after this commercial break!"

 Turning off the TV Jet said. "Well? Anyone interested?"

"It's only a hundred thousand woolongs, that's almost not even worth the trip." Said Spike.

"Ya but, anything would be better than just sitting here waiting to run out of money and food. In a few days only Ein and Faye are gonna have any food left."

Faye threw the pillow she had been using a Jet. "Hey now, that's not fair. That only happened once ok!"

Ignoring her, Jet asked Spike. "So, you in?"

"I suppose. I'll do just about anything to get a decent meal right about now."

"Good, let's get . . . . beebeep, beebeep, beebeep What's that?"

"Ed'll get it." She said as she jumped from her seat to the computer and activated the screen.

"Mr. Black! Quick, connect me with Mr. Black."

Jet moved toward the computer screen. "Mr. Agerson? You sound worried. What's wrong?"

"We need your help! Our ship is under attack, and you're the only one close enough to save it."

"Oh, so now you want our help? What happened to that your guarantee that they were going to be safe?"

"Please Mr. Black there isn't anytime! It seems that they decided stealing the cargo isn't worth the trouble and are trying to blow the ship up. You must help us."

"I don't know, we're just about to leave and do a different job. What do you say guys? Should we help them out now, even though they refused our help before, or do we go for that other guy?"

"How much are they gonna pay us?" Asked Faye.

"Seven million!" Said the man desperately.

"Wasn't that what they offered for the last bounty? Isn't this an emergency? Doesn't that mean she should get a bit more?" Asked Spike?"

"Ok! Fifteen million. Just please help us!"

Jet raised his eyebrow at the increase in payment. "You have yourself a deal Mr. Agerson, though we'll be expecting an explanation we come to return the goods."

"Yes! Ok! Anything! Just go save our ships and escort the cargo ship to the gate. I'm sending you the coordinates of the actual ship carrying the cargo. That ship is to be your first priority!"

"Multiple ships?"

"Yes, we sent multiple ships out hoping to confuse whoever it was that was trying to hijack us, but this time they've come with enough of a force to attack all eight of our ships."

"Ok, then. We'll get right on it. Bebop out." Turning to the others, Jet continued. "All right let's go get that fifteen million woolong reward. You two get to your ships, and get ready to launch ASAP. Ed, come with me, I'm going to need your help."

"Okie dokie yokie." Sang Ed as she followed Jet to the ship's bridge.

Faye and Spike launched when they were within range of the cargo ship. Spike frowned as he took in the scene, something felt very wrong. Eight fighter ships swarmed around the freighter attacking it, while two larger ships watched at a slight distance. "Hey Spike. Is it just me, or are you getting the feeling that something fishy is going on here?"

"Something's definitely up. That cargo ship hasn't been blown up because they haven't wanted to blow it up."

"What should we do?"

Spike shrugged. "Let's just get rid of those fighters. We'll just have to deal with whatever they're planning when it happens."

Faye was about to respond to him, when four of the fighters peeled away from the cargo ship to attack them. Spike immediately charged in, gun blazing, which drew two of the fighters after him, while the other two went after Faye.

Faye quickly punched a few buttons and launched a volley of missiles at her opponents. To her astonishment, they didn't even bother trying to dodge the missiles, which detonated harmlessly against some type of barrier. "What the hell was that?!"

"I think it's called a deflector shield, or something like that. It seems they've all got it. Cuz all my shots are bouncing of these guys as well."

"Did you say these guys are using deflector shields?! Just who the hell are these guys?" Jet asked.

"So just how the hell are we supposed to be beat these guys if we can't even hurt them?"

"Ed knows! Ed knows!" She said excitedly. "The shields absorb damage just like normal armor does, except that it'll fix itself if you stop hitting it."

Narrowly dodging a volley of bullet fire, Faye didn't bother asking how it was that she knew; Ed was always just weird that way. "You know, This stinks! They can hit us, but we can barely touch them!"

"Ah, but that's what makes it fun."

"Only you would call this fun Spike." Faye yelled as she turned her ship sharply to avoid set of bullets, only to nearly run into yet another spray of bullets. She growled as she was clipped by the second spray of bullets. "That's it! I'm tired of playing run away with you two!"

Flipping a switch, Faye smiled with sadistic pleasure as all of her ships weapons readied themselves to fire simultaneously. "Let's just see how well your shields are going to hold against all this." Banking sharply, she came about to face her attackers. "Take this dirt bag!" She said as she launched a round of missiles and bullets at them.

One ship reacted quickly and managed to safely avoid the salvo. The other ship was not so lucky. Instead missile after missile mercilessly rained on the ship's shield's until they finally failed, leaving the lightly armored ship within virtually defenseless to the remaining missiles of Faye's salvo.

"Woohoo!" Faye cheered at the resulting explosion. "One down, one to go."

On the Bebop's bridge, Jet looked at Ed after hearing Spike and Faye's conversation. "Deflector shields? Just who exactly are we dealing with? We're talking about something that still so experimental the military hasn't even had the chance to equip themselves with it. They certainly didn't have them in the last six attempts, or they wouldn't have gotten caught so easily." Pausing to think for a moment he said. "It has to be someone else."

Ed gave him a confused look. "Why?"

"It just has to be! This attack doesn't match the MO of the last six. It's always been two older ships, one fighter and one cargo ship. Not only that, but in each of the last six attacks, taking the cargo safely has been their priority. Why suddenly change their stratagem?"

Ed shrugged her shoulders and said. "Because they were bored?"

Jet frowned. "The way I see it, either someone else is planning this attack, or whoever is financing these operations is getting really desperate. The question is why. That's where you come in Ed. I want you to try to dig up any information you can about this. I want anything you can dig. While you do that, I'll see what I can do on helping Spike and Faye with those Deflector shields."

"Aye aye captain!" Ed giggled, before putting on her goggles to begin her net diving.

Taking a deep breath, Jet dialed a number he hadn't dialed in many years. In fact the last time he was forced to dial it, he spent months trying to find his way out of the mess it caused. Then again, no one ever said working for the inner planetary bureau of military intelligence was a walk in the park. Thanks to Within seconds, there was a familiar face being displayed on the video screen. "Jet Black?! Now there's a face I haven't seen in years. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well Alan, I was hoping you could help me with a small problem we're having."

"It can't be all that little if you had to call me for help, but I'll do my best. What's this all about?"

"Deflector shields." Jet stated flatly.

Alan suddenly looked grave. "I see. This is very disturbing indeed. I'm afraid I'm going to have to officially tell you that I cannot do anything to help you. Unofficially though, a military transport was destroyed while navigating through the asteroid belt several weeks ago. We're still conducting tests to determine if it was an accident or foul play."

 "It was carrying our first combat ready deflector shield system. Most were discovered, but we were hoping those we couldn't find were destroyed in the accident. Unfortunately, it seems we were wrong. Jet I know you said you didn't want any more military jobs, but I need to ask you to do this for me. Not only would you be helping out a friend, but I can pay you the same I paid you last time — under the table of course."

Jet nodded his head. "Any idea's on who we might be dealing with?"

Alan nodded. "No one else could have done it. It had to have been . . . "

"Vagabond!" Jet blinked as he heard the word coming to him in stereo, from both Alan and Ed.

Jet nodded grimily. Vagabond was without a doubt the most wanted criminal in the known universe. The privately placed bounty on his head was enough to pay all of Faye's debt with a decent amount leftover. It is unsure exactly what he did to deserve the largest bounty of all time placed on him, but it was plainly obvious that he managed to so significantly piss off the ASE that they made sure he would be the most wanted man for all time.

  To make sure of this, anytime someone placed a bounty on him or someone collects a bounty on one of his flunkies, that amount plus an additional three million woolong would then be added to the current total of his bounty. Therefore the initial thirty million woolong bounty had grown to over seven hundred million woolongs, if caught alive. But in the event that he were killed while trying to capture him, the additional three million woolong per bounty would not be paid, leaving the initial thirty million plus all other bounties placed on him or his flunkies. Although it wouldn't be nearly as much as it would be if they captured him alive, the two hundred and fifty million woolongs for killing him was more than enough to make it the second largest bounty of all time.

Yet for all the money and fame associated with catching him, only two people have ever had the distinction of capturing him. The first was a famous bounty hunter named Simeon Ketchum back in 2042, when the bounty was first issued. Simeon somehow had managed to apprehend Vagabond an amazing four time in the years between 2042 and 2050, before dying while chasing a bounty.

For the next twelve years, Vagabond effectively managed to disappear. That is until a virtually unknown man known only as Discord, appeared at the Earth ISSP office with a man he claimed to be Vagabond. Once Vagabond was in police custody, Discord was never seen again.

Unfortunately, within four hours of being incarcerated, Vagabond had once again escaped from prison. A new wave of bounty hunters appeared to chase down the infamous Vagabond, but as before Vagabond went into hiding; never to be seen again.

Jets eyes widened as Ed began singing a silly song about Vagabond and his magic wand. The difference between this attack and the previous six must be that Vagabond himself was leading this one. He must have likely gotten tired of his flunkies messing up, and decided to take matters into his own hands. Turning back to the monitor, Jet said. "Alan, you have got yourself a deal. I'll call you back after the fight."

Spike smiled as the ship on his tail tried hard nail him. After Faye dramatically blew up the first ship, the three others realized they weren't quite as invincible as they thought. That of course had the effect of making them fight harder, which just made the fight all the more exciting for him.

It didn't take him too long however to take down the first of his two attackers. Luckily, the one currently tailing him hadn't eased up down in the slightest. Unfortunately for that ship, in his zeal to blow up Spike, he failed to notice Spike charging his front plasma cannon. Spike pushed the throttle to full, and began to speed away from his attacker. The following ship likewise accelerated to catch up, that however had been what Spike was hoping for. He quickly killed the engines, allowing his pursuer to wiz past him. Taking a moment to line him up in the targeting display, Spike fired the plasma cannon.

Just as he anticipated, the shields flared to life for a couple of seconds before simply fizzling away; the missile he fired a second later met no resistance, which allowed it to the destroy the ship. Just then Faye's excited voice came over the intercom. "Two down, no more to go! Now all we gotta do is rescue that ship and collect our fifteen million. This wasn't nearly as bad I thought it was gonna be!"

BeebeepBeebeepBeebeepBeebeep

Faye looked down at her radar. "Holy sh . . . " Faye said realizing that in just a few moments the battle field was going to be full of more ships with deflectors. "How the hell are we suppose to take care of those all those guys?"

"Never fear! Ed is here!" Ed shouted triumphantly.

On the ship of the Bebop, Jet was nearly having a heart attack as he suddenly saw his ship fly past him. "What the hell?" He said turning to look at Edward, who was sitting in front of her computer, known as Tomato, wearing her goggles and holding a controller. On Tomato's screen were five windows, and on each of those windows was a different view of the battlefield. As Jet approached Ed, and her Tomato, he noticed different ship like icons on the corner of each window. "What are you doing?"

"Shh! Edward is busy trying to concentrate!"

Looking at the constantly changing windows, he asked. "Which screen?"

"All of them."

Jet blinked and looked at the different windows trying to keep track of just two screen and failing miserably. "How the heck can you look at five different screens at the same time, and still make sense of them all?"

Ed shrugged and continued what she was doing. Shaking his head, Jet focused on the window with the icon of his ship, the Hammerhead. As he watched, he noticed other windows popping up every now and then. Finally his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked. "Hey Ed, why did that window with the pink ship just pop up?"

"Faye Faye moved too far away."

He was about to ask what she meant, when he saw the pink ship suddenly appear in Spike's window as the pop up window disappeared. Once again Jet couldn't help but feel awed by the many abilities that Edward displayed. Unless he misunderstood, Ed was using each window to mentally piece together a 3d map of the battlefield. His theory was confirmed as a ship moved from the hammerhead's window into a new pop up.

Deciding that Ed was way too complicated to understand, he decided to keep watching a screen. As he watched Spike chasing after a ship, he saw another ship closing in on Faye. As it did, a red light flashed quickly on Spike's window, Faye's window, and his Hammerhead's window. Jet laughed as he heard Faye squawk over the intercom when her Redtail fired a missile of its own accord to join the missiles that were also fired from Spike's Swordfish, and from his Hammerhead. All three missiles landed simultaneously tremendously weakening the shield strength of the attacking ship to the point that he was forced to veer away to recharge his shields.

After a couple of minutes of watching, he noticed that Ed was mostly using the Hammerhead to protect the cargo ship; unfortunately, it seemed she didn't mind using it as a shield for oncoming bullets. Jet closed his eyes and looked down as he thought about all the repairs he was going to have to make after the battle. With a deep sigh, he turned to leave, when he saw a small ship fly past the cargo ship's window followed by the Hammerhead. He turned his view to his Hammerhead's window and sure enough he stared at an extremely familiar ship.

It had been many years since he had seen that ship. In fact, the last time he saw it was the first time he had been working for Alan. Spike and him had just gotten together and it was one of their first missions as bounty hunters. Like now, a group of pirates managed to steal a very important cargo. The term of the mission was to retrieve whatever was possible and destroy what wasn't.

The ship currently on the view screen had been the ace then, and it seems he was the ace once again. "Well I'll be! Ed, can you make a separate window for the Tigershark that the Hammerhead is chasing?"

Ed nodded and a new window popped up, centered on now yellow-colored ship. The more he looked at the outdated ship on the screen, the more he was sure it was the same ship from years ago. "Ed, whatever you do, don't let that ship go, I'm sure that ship is Vagabond."

"Okie dah, but Ed is going to run out of bullets soon."

"Out of bullets? How could you run out of bullets before either Spike or Faye, when you didn't get out there until after them?"

Ed shrugged. Just then Faye's voice came over the intercom. "Hey Jet, I'm out of bullets here!"

"Dammit! Of all the times to run out of ammo! Give me a few minutes for me to get what you need. Just distract them for a few minutes."

"Distract them? With what?"

"How the heck should I know? Use tracers or something! Just keep them distracted, I'll tell you when I'm ready for you to land and rearm."

"Fine, but hurry the hell up! I'm still getting shot out here!"

"Hey Spike, how'd you like another chance at that hot shot Tigershark pilot we faced that time we were working for Alan?"

"Just tell me where he is."

"Ed is chasing him with the Hammerhead. Make sure you catch him alive though, he's worth a lot more then the fifteen million for the cargo ship."

"More then fifteen million?" Asked Faye's curious and excited voice.

"You heard me. Ever hear of the name Vagabond?"

"Who?" Asked Faye, as she noticed Spike immediately peel away from his current target to go chasing after the Hammerhead's target.

"He's the solar system's most wanted criminal, and he's worth a fortune!"

"I thought Big Shot said there were no major bounties?"

"Ya but he's excluded. He's been wanted so long, most people think he's just a ghost story."

"How much longer till you finish."

"If you would stop asking question and let me do my work, I'll be done a lot quicker. Fine, hurry up and land."

Faye quickly did as she was told and landed on the Bebop. Jet was waiting for her on the flight deck and they immediately went to work rearming her Redtail. Not to long after beginning they heard Spike's voice. "Well there goes my last missile, looks like it's all plasma cannon from here on out."

Jet picked up his communicator and said. "Do whatever you have to do. Remember he's still worth two hundred and fifty million dead. There's no need to get yourself killed out there."

"TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION! Jet hurry it the hell up! I gotta get out there!"

"I'm working as fast as I can here! You can — "

"Hey Jet we just got a bunch of new company out here."

"More of vagabond's ships?"

"I don't think so. They just showed up and went straight for the other ships." BeepBeepBeep "Ah shit, I've got a missile locked on me. Hold up."

Jet and Faye listened as Spike tried to out maneuver the missile. As the seconds passed the beeping noise got louder until they heard a loud explosion. "Yo Spike, what happened? Spike?"

"Ya I'm all right, for now. My engines are down though; I'm stuck here."

"I'm getting out of here." Said Faye as she hopped back into her ship.

"But the ship isn't fully loaded yet!"

"It's good enough. All I got to do is destroy one ship right?"

Not waiting for an answer, Faye began getting ready for launch and forced Jet to retreat further into the ship while the flight deck doors opened up. "Sheesh! That woman will do anything for money!"

Outside Faye was greeted to the view of an all out grand melee. As Spike had said all of the new ships were going after their old targets. A quick scanned revealed Spike drifting safely though space. Once she confirmed Spike was safe, Faye began looking for Vagabond.

Turning to look where all the action was, she easily found Vagabond's ship. Vagabond was naturally in the center of all the action. Behind him, were four of the new ships. Chasing them were the rest of Vagabond's followers. Finally the remaining three new ships were chasing Vagabond's. Faye sighed as she realized there would be no way she could get through the fourteen ships between her and Vagabond. "Dammit! You better appreciate what I'm sacrificing for you Spike! The last thing we need is to have a mummy hogging the couch!"

"Oh how selfless of you. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to thank you enough for saving my life just so you can lollygag around the ship in more comfort."

Faye frowned. "Whatever Spike. Just remember you owe me for this." Hitting a button, she activated the ship's external arms. As she approached slowly Spike's ship, she opened the pincers, grabbed the Swordfish's wings with them and began flying back to the Bebop. As she approached the Bebop, she took one last look at the where Vagabond had last been and sighed as she thought of all the money she had just let slide through her fingers.

Once inside the Bebop, they headed toward the bridge where they found Jet talking to a woman. "We thank for your assistance in helping us catch this most wanted criminal Mr. Black. Unfortunately the bastard did what he's good at and he ran away again with his tail tucked between his legs. I have been authorized to credit you half a million woolongs for your assistance with the Vagabonds. Initiating transfer now . . . . Transfer completed. Once again the ASE thanks you for your support."

Without waiting for Jet's reply, the communication was cut. "Ok, will someone explain just what the heck is going on here? When did this mission get so screwed up?" Asked Faye.

"The moment we found out Vagabond was involved."

"So who is this guy? Why is he wanted? Who're these ASE people?"

"Sheesh, how can you be a bounty hunter and not know that answer?" Asked Spike as he laid down on the couch.

"Well excuse me, I was frozen for fifty years in case you've forgotten."

Jet shook his head. "I suppose studying up is too much to ask of you. Ok here's how it is. The ASE is basically an Earth-based syndicate, but they have so much influence on the Earth government that they're more like a quasi government. No one outside the ASE really knows the exact crime Vagabond committed, but they're willing to pay huge amounts of money to get him.

"So where are they getting all the money to pay for the huge reward?"

"They deal primarily with information, but they also acted as hired bodyguards. If you can afford their prices, they're the best at what they do."

"So if they're so good, why can't they track this Vagabond guy?"

"I don't know." Jet responded. "For all I know their inability to track him might be why they want him so bad. He's the stain on their otherwise perfect record. I've seen people do rasher things for stupider reasons. Hell I arrested a woman on Ganymede once for killing her husband because he . . . ." beebeepbeebeepbeebeep "Hold on a sec."

"Mr. Black! I must thank you for your assistance. As per our agreement I have transferred fifteen million woolongs to your account."

"Ok Mr. Agerson, would you mind explaining to me know why the Vagabonds have tried to steal your cargo seven times?"

"The Vagabonds?!" Asked the obviously confused scientist. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, two of my pilots were in a dog fight with Vagabond himself."

"What? I don't understand. The cargo was purely scientific in nature. I can't imagine any thing what they would find interesting about it."

"Well something sure must be interesting to make the solar systems most wanted man to come out of hiding for the first time in several years."

"I honestly don't know what that might be. There isn't anything that we've been working on here that could be of any tactical use. It's all aimed at civilian use."

"Mr. Agerson. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why don't you tell me exactly what it is that you're working on and let me decide if there's tactical use for it. Since our last conversation, I've been contacted by Admiral Alan Faio of military intelligence, as well as the regional head of the ASE military forces. I'm sure Alan's going to be curious about the nature of the cargo that was important enough to Vagabond that he lead the assault himself. A person who has been in hiding for over ten years because of a seven hundred million woolong bounty doesn't risk getting caught for just anything. What your cargo is, it is no doubt of immense value to Vagabond."

The older man looked down and sighed. "Ok I'll tell you on the condition that you can't let this information out to the media. We've worked far too hard on this, for them to ruin things for us."

"You have our word."

"Thank you. Rewake is a research lab focused on the awakening of others from cryogenic sleep. Within the last few years there have been an increasing number of corrupt doctors awakening people from cryogenic sleep and charging them absurd hospital fees' and the like. Unfortunately most of these doctors were using faulty units, which frequently had up to an eighty percent chance of memory loss for patients who were put into cryogenic sleep before the cryogenic act of 2027. That isn't even the worst of it all, it's estimated that one out of every three patients placed into cryogenic sleep between 2014 and 2018 were reverted to an infantile state. We have several of such adult toddlers here in the lab. The cargo you saved was the prototype of a cryogenic unit used to return those lost memories. However . . . "

Faye eyes opened wide as she heard the scientist's words. She ran up to the screen and interrupted the researcher. "Can you really restore my memories?!"

Mr. Agerson was startled by Faye's sudden appearance and emotional question. It was obvious to him that the girl was yet another victim of man's eternal greed. He looked down, unable to force himself to look at the girl while destroyed the desperate hope in her eyes. This was one of the primary reasons he didn't want others to know of his research. Looking down he spoke with heavy heart. "I'm sorry but I do not think I'll be able to help you yet."

Faye staggered backwards as if she had just been struck. "What? Why? When?"

Forcing himself to look up he said. "I doubt we'll be able to help you. Right now our ability to restore someone's ability is very limited. Hopefully it may only take us five to ten more years before we're ready for public use."

Faye drooped with disappointment. "Oh I see."

Not knowing what else to say, Mr. Agerson asked. "Why don't you come to our facility? We can give you a tour of our facilities and have you sign some papers to put you on the waiting list. That way you can guarantee your treatment before some company commercializes it. There are also a few people here who have been through the same thing you have, perhaps talking with them might help."

The man might have said more, but Faye sighed and walked away, plopping down on the seat facing the couch that Spike had fallen asleep on. Jet took his position in front of the screen and said. "Thank you Mr. Agerson, we'll be there as soon as we can."

Author Notes.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Despite having so many other stories I had to work on, I was impressed to write this story and so here it is. Don't worry you'll see Ranma in either the next chapter or the one after that. I just had to lay the ground work in this chapter. Don't worry I haven't abandoned my others stories, they're coming along. I'm currently plotting the next chapter of academy days, so look for that sometine next month (hopefully)


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